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School leaders welcome state help on safety

By Rick Sobey, rsobey@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/17/2014 06:35:00 AM EST

BOSTON -- While area superintendents stressed that they're proactive with school safety, they praised Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday for establishing a task force focused on updating safety plans in the wake of recent tragedies.

Superintendents from around Greater Lowell and Fitchburg emphasized they regularly update safety plans, but they were happy to learn about extra guidance from the state on Thursday.

"Any and all assistance we can have in keeping our kids safe is most welcome," said Greater Lowell Technical High School Superintendent-Director Roger Bourgeois. "An environment where our students feel welcome is our number one priority.

"We're always updating our emergency plan yearly, but the task force will make it so we're not all reinventing the wheel," he added.

Taking heed from the recent school shootings across the country, Patrick signed an executive order Thursday establishing a task force focused on school safety and security.

The move comes a few days after a 12-year-old boy wounded two students at a Roswell, N.M., middle school when he walked into the gymnasium and opened fire using a sawed-off shotgun.

The incident in New Mexico was the latest tragedy to strike at a public school following a shooting in December at a suburban Denver high school and the tragedy a little over a year ago in Newtown, Conn., when 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into an elementary school and killed 20 children and six adults before turning a gun on himself.

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"No child will be able to succeed academically if they don't first feel safe in school, and no teacher will be able to teach at their best if they aren't confident there's a plan in place to ensure their school is well prepared for an emergency," Patrick said in a statement.

The 20-member panel will be chaired by Education Secretary Matthew Malone, Public Safety Secretary Andrea Cabral and Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz.

Malone said the goal is for the task force to develop policy recommendations by the summer that school districts can model for the start of the next school year in September. The work will focus on updating school safety plans, recommending school safety improvements and procedures in case of emergency, and drafting school-centered training and exercise programs.

"This is not a mandate. What we're doing is offering a set of tools and best practices," Malone said.

Hearing about yet another school shooting this week, Lunenburg Superintendent Loxi Jo Calmes said school safety and security is an area of "great concern and high importance for everyone in the country." She said the district has been working diligently with the police and fire departments on updating its emergency preparedness plan each year.

"We had plans in place even before Sandy Hook, and we continue to be vigilant after all of these tragedies," she said. "It's also important that we take a real serious look at mental-health services for our students across the state."

Billerica Superintendent Tim Piwowar said these state guidelines would help ensure consistency across all the state's districts. Billerica already participates in safety and security training in the region, working collaboratively with the District Attorney's Office, police, fire and school departments, he said.

"Given what continues to happen across the country, we need to make sure to keep our schools safe and a conducive environment for learning," Piwowar said.

While some larger urban school districts in the state have been able to receive federal funding to help develop safety plans and upgrade security technology and training programs, most small districts have not had the same help, Malone said.

Wilmington Superintendent Joanne Benton said it would be great if safety renovations to windows and doors could be part of the funding.

"That's the key piece for us because it's more expensive to put in the safety glass and doors," Benton said. "If it will save a life, then it's essential to get that funding from the state."

Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District Superintendent Ralph Hicks said he will definitely look at the state's security recommendations because "safety is something we take very seriously." The district has recently made upgrades to buildings, and principals have attended ALICE Training Institute sessions, an alternative to "locking yourself in your room and becoming a victim," Hicks said. (ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate).

Wilmington has adopted ALICE as a safety protocol, and Greater Lowell Tech faculty and staff plan to participate in ALICE Training with the Tyngsboro Police Department this February vacation.

And it isn't only public schools that have been proactive with safety and security. Lowell's Franco American School has an initiative to completely update its emergency plan before the 2014-2015 school year. Staff members have begun the process by meeting with the Lowell Police Department recently.

"We determined that our emergency plan didn't address a lot of the recent situations, so we'll be following the Lowell Public Schools protocols with crisis planning and lockdowns," said Ginny McGuiggin, administrative assistant at the Franco American School, a Catholic elementary school. "Our main focus is the safety of our children."

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